Matter and Meaning:
One of the two revolutions in physics that had broad and deep implications in the twentieth century are i. Special Theory of Relativity; and ii. Quantum mechanics. Special theory of relativity restructured our idea about space and time, the most basic concepts of physics.
Reality is dynamic, not static. We need to be tuned ourselves to understand the dynamic reality. Physicists had to always stay alert to see something happening in nature and to record it so they can understand and describe it later. The alertness to changes and the passion to discover new phenomena are the fundamental characteristics which make a great physicist.[1]
The biggest challenge to the physicists would be to find the relationship between matter and meaning. To discover this relationship one needs to ask the right question – Right question is possible with keen observation and critical thinking. And both observation and thinking need openness of mind. The challenge, either now or latter, to the physicists is to find the relationship between the matter and meaning. As Einstein was one day idly sitting in his Bern patent office, he asked himself what would be the speed of a person in a falling lift under gravity; and the general theory of relativity followed.
In the Greek library, when books were categorized they were wondering where to place the books on philosophy. They placed them, in the library racks, after physics – That is why philosophy is known as meta-physics, that is, after physics, since they were placed after physics. But this also brings in a contrast and it is between subjectivity and objectivity. Once there was a heated argument between a donkey and a tiger. The donkey argued that the grass is blue, while the tiger maintained that it is green. Both then appealed to the King of the Forest, the lion. The lion agreed with the donkey and the donkey went about with his slogan: the grass is blue. The tiger reasoned out with the lion that the grass is green. The lion said: Yes, it is green as everyone knows and observes. But this is not a point for a person for your stature to argue with a donkey and on top of it taking the matter to me wasting my time. This is one side of the picture. Which side should one take? The lion and the tiger do not eat grass but the donkey has firsthand and personal experience of grass. Who is right? The subjective view of the donkey or the objective view of the tiger? Much depends on how you observe, understand, and experience the world.
Understanding the Reality:
Take, for example, how human beings have been understanding the world. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, said that the world is one dimension: Earth is the reflection of sky above. Euclid proposed that the world is two-dimensional: length and breath. After many centuries came Newton and indicated that it is three dimensional: length, breath, height or depth. Then, came Einstein, as you know, saying the world is four dimensional: space-time continuum. Is the picture now complete? Not in my opinion. I have proposed the fifth dimension, namely, the consciousness. Whatever be the dimension of the world, unless you are conscious of the reality, the reality does not exist. Particles in nucleus were non-existent to our forefathers but today we assume that there are over 120 particles in the nucleus. According to the report of 04Mar2021, CERN has announced the discovery of four brand new particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva. This means that the LHC has now found a total of 59 new particles, in addition to the Nobel prize-winning Higgs boson.[2] Even the simple thing like proton is now under scrutiny, whether proton is a single particle. Now, it is agreed that a proton is composed of three quarks, two up quarks and one down quark. And the gluons are the mediating forces ‘binding’ them together. But how do you bring up to one basic positive charge of a proton? Physics is quite clear that science has not said the final word and physicists need open mindedness to see, understand, and accept any new understanding of reality.
Challenges as Puzzles:
We have been facing challenges one after another from the beginning of time. But do challenges lead to more confusion or clarity? Not all challenges have been understood or solved but clarity is becoming possible. The origin of the world is a big challenge: The Big Bang. Was there a big bang, though it is mostly accepted? We are still not able to decipher the initial conditions of the big bang. Approximately one second after the big bang, the universe was about 400,000 times as dense as water, and the temperature was 10 billion kelvins. Matter consisted mainly of protons and neutrons. After 13.8 seconds, the temperature had dropped to 3 billion kelvins, and three minutes and 45 seconds later, it had dropped to 1 billion kelvins. At this point, the neutrons and protons began to form helium nuclei. The first atoms didn’t form until 700,000 years after the big bang. By then, the temperature had dropped to several thousand kelvins, which was cool enough for protons and electrons to form hydrogen atoms.[3] But what do we know about the initial condition at time t = 0, known as the primordial singularity? That remains still a challenge and it would remain a challenge for years or even centuries to come.
Challenge is like a puzzle piece in a big picture. We need to find the exact meaning or implication of this puzzle in order to find the right place or position of a challenge in the wider reality.
There is another area of puzzle which could prove as a challenge to the physicist. From the information gathered from the Hubble telescope we know that the universe is still expanding, as an offshoot of big bang. The puzzle is that the expansion rate is faster when you go farther in the universe. And we do not know where the universe begins nor where it ends. Today the universe is extended over 476 million light-years apart.[4] We all agree that the universe likes and sustains symmetry. Take, for example, particles in physics. If particles are created at the big bang, then there should have been equal number or amount of anti-particle created. We have electron and we have positron. We have neutrino, we should have anti-neutrino. We have protons – Do we have anti-protons? We have atoms. Do we have anti-atoms? In fact, in 1998 CERN produced anti-atom (which survived just for 40 nano-sec).
Initially, if symmetry were to hold good, there were particles and anti-particles. Anti-particle is literally the mirror image of normal matter/particle, ie. with same mass and spin but with opposite electrical charge. When a particle encounters an anti-particle the result is mutual annihilation with the release of energy (mainly γ radiation). They, particle and anti-particle, when brought together, disappear and their kinetic energy and rest-mass energy could be converted into other particles.
In this context, came in the concept of dark matter and dark energy: It is believed that the visible matter in the universe accounts for only 4.6% of the total matter (ie. mass and energy) – This is called ‘well behaved ordinary matter’; while 24% of the universe-matter is invisible matter (known as ‘dark-matter’) and there is no clue regarding what it is. And the rest, ie. 71.4%, would be of dark-energy.[5] And it is proposed that dark energy provides the matrix for the universe, planets and stars, to float, so to say, in the space. The dark-matter holds the stars in their orbits and stops them from flying off into intergalactic space and at the same time causes expansion. The area of dark matter and dark energy is another challenge for the physicists.
One more puzzle would be the black hole. We believe that the universe began with big bang, which was a massive explosion. It started expanding and now there is counter force between gravitation force and velocity with which the universe is expanding. The velocity of expansion seems to have the upper hand at present but it is predicted that it might slowly loose to the gravitational pull. At that point the implosion of the universe would begin. This implosion would consolidate itself into a black hole which attracts everything within itself and would not even let light out of it. On 11Feb2016, B.P. Abbott et al using a US system called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detected gravitational waves corresponding to the collision of two black holes. This announcement also constituted a new confirmation of the existence of those singular cosmic entities.[6]
But recently it was found out that light could pass through the black hole. According to the recent report of 04Aug2021, astronomers have now detected light behind a black hole for the first time. Researchers were studying the X-rays flaring from a supermassive black hole in the center of the spiral galaxy, Zwicky 1, 800 million light-years away when they discovered the unexpected phenomenon. Alongside the expected X-ray flashes from the front of the black hole, the scientists also detected a number of “luminous echoes” from an origin they initially couldn’t place.[7]
There are so many other puzzles to be understood and solved: Quantum Gravity, Particle Masses, Measurement of moving particles in Quantum Physics (remember the uncertainty principle), Matter – Anti-matter asymmetry, the arrow of time – just to mention a few. The physicists used many a method such as string theory, quantum dot theory, M-theory etc.[8] M-theory aims to unify quantum mechanics with general relativity‘s gravitational force in a mathematically consistent way.[9] And now they are working on the Unification Theory.
Efforts with Solution:
We can assume and believe that the big bang might have been a one single force. But now we are not able to understand that simplicity. We see it in four fragments, also called fundamental interactions, namely, gravitational, electromagnetic, strong, and weak forces that govern how objects or particles interact and how certain particles decay. And except the gravitation force, the other three originate from an atom. And we try to trace all forces to these fundamental forces. But we have not unified them yet.[10]
The new comer is the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) which is a model in particle physics in which, at high energies, the three forces, namely electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces could be merged into a single force. This must be an intermediate step towards a Theory of Everything (TOE).[11] TOE is expected to be the final theory, the ultimate theory, the theory of the world or the master theory as a hypothetical, singular, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical framework of physics that fully explains and links together all physical aspects of the universe.[12]
The alternative would be to revisit the whole theoretical world of physics. According to the Indian Express News of 06Mar2021, four Indian scientists (Sisi Roy et al), in their research paper published in International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, have recently challenged the assumption of the big bang theory based on red-shift in spectrum. They claim that the red shift does not occur in a uniform manner, but in recurring stages, what they name as periodicity in red shift.[13]
Contradiction or Complementary:
Einstein said that all physical lows hold good in all frames of references. Is it so? Physics laws, we could assume, operate differently depending on dimensions and scales: Within the nucleus, for example, like-charges (ie. protons) attract each other; but outside of it like-charges repel each other. Atom, which is the building block of matter, is made of core positive charge with the periphery of negative charge. Conversely, the cell, which is the building block of biosystem, comprises of negatively charged inner core and positively charged protoplasm (periphery). While an atom has rest mass energy, with increase in mass as the velocity increases, a cell possess energy revealed through the characteristic vibrational frequency.
Probability principles apply to micro world of subatomic particles, while Newton’s laws hold good for the macro world. And Kepler’s laws govern planetary motion. Gravitation itself seems to vary from attractive to repulsive depending on the dimension of the universe. In our universe, filled with particles, the gravitation force is attractive; but out there, which is filled with anti-particles, the gravitation force is repulsive (That is why the universe is expanding, lest the particles and anti-particles come together and destroy each other ending up in radiation). In the realm of dark matter the possibility of life is little given the detected background radiation of 3 K, discovered by Robert Wilson in 1964, from the outer space (in which condition life cannot originate and survive).
Given the multi-reality, one wonders at the possibility of another universe or other universes. Our universe may be one of the many, physicists say. The scientists are now looking into the question of: Universe or Multiverse?[14] The possibility of a multiverse is raised by the theory of cosmic inflation. However, science, especially the laws of nature, would tell us how the universe behaves, but would not answer the why questions. Science may understand and explain the universe as a Grand Design but science may not indicate who the Grand Designer is.
The most difficult challenge to a physicist, for that matter for any person, is oneself. It is a challenge between one’s thinking and one’s faith. Thomas Aquinas, theologian par excellence in the Catholic Church, recalled: When the reason does not measure up, faith must compensate.[15] Here, one could see the complementarity of science and religion. Science could explain how the universe works, but it is the religion that would enlighten us why there should be a universe. So a physicist might find correlation between what he/she observes and understands.
Source(s) for Solution:
In the novel The Sparrow (1996), the author Mary Doria Russell, narrates how discovering radio wave of music from the vicinity of Alpha Centauri, the Jesuit Fr Sandoz sets out on expedition to planet Rakhat. Alpha Centauri is the closest stars system which is about 4.37 light years from the sun. Fr Sandoz discovers who made the radio transmission of music and finds them to be of different species, more intelligent than us.[16] This implies that we need to look elsewhere for finding the intricacies of challenges faced and the possibility of seeking solutions.
One needs to understand one’s potential to meet and manage challenges in the form of obstacles, hurdles etc. Think of Goliath and David in the Bible story. Goliath was a veteran warrior; but David was a young lad taking care of sheep. But with a little sling and a pebble stone, David could kill Goliath. As the book would say, Goliath went with the arrogance of his knowledge and skills; but David moved having faith in God and trust in himself. We need courage and confidence coupled with clarity with respect to goal. The Prayer of Serenity, ascribed to the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, goes like this:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.[17]
As physicists we are to build bridges with other derivative sciences, namely chemistry, biology, space science, medical etc. And this would be a solution and service we could offer to the world at large. Multi-disciplinary research is believed to be the way to move forward. Physics itself is already a multidisciplinary science. If you doubt this, just consider for a moment biophysics, chemical physics and mathematical physics.
Conclusion:
Challenge is an opportunity. In every challenge look for a straw of solution or opportunity. Napoleon was fond of chess. When he was in exile on the Atlantic isle of St Helena, someone smuggled to him, a chessboard. Not to arouse suspicion, his supporters sent him a chess set of pieces of ivory, which hid inside a detailed plan to escape from the island. Napoleon played chess; but failed to discover the secret hiding pieces. Perhaps we too miss something obvious in our life of business or distractedness. Let me end my sharing with the lines of Elizabeth Barret Browning:
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.
Let us walk with the hope to meet the challenges, for hope is the charm of any challenge. That is the only way in our search for meaning of matter internally, externally, and universally.
[1] https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-physics-how-can-physicists-save-world
[2] https://theconversation.com/cern-scientists-discover-four-new-particles-heres-why-they-matter-155800
[3] https://sciencing.com/temperature-universe-during-big-bang-4822.html
[4] R. Panek, The 4 Percent Universe, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, 2011, p.210.
[5] https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html
[6] https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/when-past-becomes-future-physics-in-the-21st-century/
[7] https://www.livescience.com/einstein-proven-right-black-hole
[8] https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:996740/FULLTEXT01.pdf
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_M-theory
[10]https://www.google.com/search?q=strong+force+weak+force+gravitational+force+electromagnetic+ force&oq=Strong+force%2C+weak+fore&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0i13l3j0i8i13i30l6.12637j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
[11] https://www.google.com/search?q=unification+theory&oq=unification+theory&aqs=chrome..
69i57j0i512l2j0i22i30l7.3112j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
[12] https://www.google.com/search?q=What+is+TOE+in+Physics%3F&oq=What+is+TOE+in+Physics%3F&
aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i390l2.10797j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
[13] https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/mar/06/four-indian-scientistschallenge-big-bang-theory-2272915.html
[14] B. Carr (Ed), Universe or Multiverse?, Cambridge Uni Press, Cambridge, 2007.
[15] https://www.chantcd.com/lyrics/glorious_body.htm
[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sparrow_(novel)
[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer